80 fighting dogs seized at home of former NFL player

[Jake]

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Johnson busted in May in drug, dog-fighting ring

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- State narcotics agents seized more than 80 pit bulldogs after search warrants were served Friday at the Tulsa residence of a former NFL football player.

The seizures are part of an investigation that resulted in the confiscation of 141 dogs in May and the arrests of 22 people, including former running back LeShon Johnson, said Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

"When we did the roundup in May, we knew we didn't get all of the people involved, nor did we get all of the dogs," Woodward said. "Today, we found the dogs we were looking for, as well as documentation that will help tie seven to 10 more people to this dog fighting and drug distribution network."

Johnson, a former Haskell High School star who later played running back in the National Football League, was arrested in Hughes County two months ago on dogfighting, conspiracy and racketeering counts.

Some evidence was found at a Checotah-area residence of Luther Johnson Jr., LeShon Johnson's brother. Investigators also found 20 dogs at the Checotah home of Brian McLain, brother-in-law of Luther Johnson Jr., Woodward said.

The first group of 53 dogs, mainly pit bulls, were taken to the Tulsa Animal Shelter, where they will be examined.

Officials with the Humane Society of the United States, which is covering the initial costs to transport the dogs, said many of the dogs were in bad shape.

"Besides obvious injuries they received while fighting, many also appeared to be malnourished," said Jay Sabatucci, regional coordinator of the organization's Southwest Regional Office.

Oklahoma Veterinary Board officials also worked with the OBNDD to find documents and animals tied to the alleged dogfighting ring, he said. The documents included sales receipts, breeding certificates, fight schedules.

Johnson was a standout high school running back at Haskell before playing college football at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and Northern Illinois, where he finished sixth in the 1993 Heisman Trophy voting race.

He played for the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants in the NFL before ending his career in the XFL four years ago.

Johnson overcame lymphoma cancer in 1998 and started for the Giants.

Dogfighting is illegal in all 50 states and is a felony in Oklahoma.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1837789

[REDEEMEDSKIN]

Not a good situation to be in.

Reminds me of the movie "Amores Perros" (not for the faint of heart).

I would really hate to be a worker at the Animal Shelter responsible for examining these animals. They've been trained to fight, are naturally aggressive, and are malnourished.

Wow, truly an interesting story.

[hailskins666]

they should all be put to sleep. fight dogs are just that, fight dogs. it doesn't matter if its kids, stuffed animals, or other dogs, they are trained to kill. you can take the dog out of the killer situation, but you can never take that killer instinct out of the animal, once its been drilled in like this. not that i'm against dog fighting, but those animals should never be turned out.

[General Failure]

You can rehab a dog. I've got a wonderful white sheppard that was going to be put down because it was vicious. With the number of dogs here and the breed nobody will ever get a chance. They'll all be put down.

[redskincity]

Not a good situation to be in.

Reminds me of the movie "Amores Perros" (not for the faint of heart).

I would really hate to be a worker at the Animal Shelter responsible for examining these animals. They've been trained to fight, are naturally aggressive, and are malnourished.

Wow, truly an interesting story.

Yeah its probaly true that the "Pits" were marked up, but a human can not train a dog how to fight. One can only prepare a dog for the hunt(fight). The so called animal lovers at the sheltors see well condition dog and blab off that they are malnourished.

I own a APBT and I feed him organic dogfood and it keeps him muscular and fat free. I have "save the Whale" people stop me all the time and ask me "why am I mistreating my dog?"

[redskincity]

they should all be put to sleep. fight dogs are just that, fight dogs. it doesn't matter if its kids, stuffed animals, or other dogs, they are trained to kill. you can take the dog out of the killer situation, but you can never take that killer instinct out of the animal, once its been drilled in like this. not that i'm against dog fighting, but those animals should never be turned out.

Hey Hey thats not true at all. This is reasons why there are speacial adoptions for the APBT.

Pitbulls by nature, are born to fight. They love to fight just like Labadors like to swim or Hounds like to hunt.

Thats what they were born to do. I would agree completely with your statement if it were any other breed.


FYI the only Fools that let their dogs die are drug dealers and a_sh_les.

[hailskins666]

You can rehab a dog. I've got a wonderful white sheppard that was going to be put down because it was vicious. With the number of dogs here and the breed nobody will ever get a chance. They'll all be put down.

i'm sure the shepard wasn't a "fight dog". maybe vicious, but not a true fighter.

they should all be put to sleep. fight dogs are just that, fight dogs. it doesn't matter if its kids, stuffed animals, or other dogs, they are trained to kill. you can take the dog out of the killer situation, but you can never take that killer instinct out of the animal, once its been drilled in like this. not that i'm against dog fighting, but those animals should never be turned out.

Hey Hey thats not true at all. This is reasons why there are speacial adoptions for the APBT.

Pitbulls by nature, are born to fight. They love to fight just like Labadors like to swim or Hounds like to hunt.

Thats what they were born to do. I would agree completely with your statement if it were any other breed.


FYI the only Fools that let their dogs die are drug dealers and a_sh_les.

whatever. you can be on a save the pitbulls rant if you want. its big money, sometimes 5-10 thousand dollars at a time. i only say this because i've seen it first hand. i have a certain..... aquantance who breeds fighters and drives an escalade, supports a family, while hiding behind a "respectable" position in the community, but most of their income is fight money and i won't say anymore about this person. but, when a dog has been fed gun powder in its food, will jump to bite a rope and hang there by its teeth till you beat it down off the rope, or until the rope is cut, there is no rehab for such an animal. most of these animals are starved, then beaten while they eat, to make em even more vicious. i could go on and on, but i won't. if these dogs are even remotley close to what i've seen, there is no option except death. as an adult i'd be scared ****less if i came face to face with one of these killers, i can't even imagine what a child would be thinking.

[redskincity]

lskins666

they should all be put to sleep. fight dogs are just that, fight dogs. it doesn't matter if its kids, stuffed animals, or other dogs, they are trained to kill. you can take the dog out of the killer situation, but you can never take that killer instinct out of the animal, once its been drilled in like this. not that i'm against dog fighting, but those animals should never be turned out.

Hey Hey thats not true at all. This is reasons why there are speacial adoptions for the APBT.

Pitbulls by nature, are born to fight. They love to fight just like Labadors like to swim or Hounds like to hunt.

Thats what they were born to do. I would agree completely with your statement if it were any other breed.


FYI the only Fools that let their dogs die are drug dealers and a_sh_les.

whatever. you can be on a save the pitbulls rant if you want. its big money, sometimes 5-10 thousand dollars at a time. i only say this because i've seen it first hand. i have a certain..... aquantance who breeds fighters and drives an escalade, supports a family, while hiding behind a "respectable" position in the community, but most of their income is fight money and i won't say anymore about this person. but, when a dog has been fed gun powder in its food, will jump to bite a rope and hang there by its teeth till you beat it down off the rope, or until the rope is cut, there is no rehab for such an animal. most of these animals are starved, then beaten while they eat, to make em even more vicious. i could go on and on, but i won't. if these dogs are even remotley close to what i've seen, there is no option except death. as an adult i'd be scared ****less if i came face to face with one of these killers, i can't even imagine what a child would be thinking.

666 you are my man and all but you have been misguided.

First off I dont know one rich person from all my years in the game that drive premiumed priced vihecles. Please show me him or her because there are no rich Esclade driving people we know of.

2. I am so tired of the misconception people have including yourself about the APBT. That their jaws lock that they have to be beating or that they are starved to make them fight. This is BS...BS BS BS BS BS BS. Man, giving a dog gun powder does nothing to the dog. It passes through their system the same way sand would pass or fiber. The pitbull hanging from the rope is something you have to teach it to do and not all pitbulls will do it. You can make any dog aggressive but when you do it interferes with their occupations The aggressive pitbull that you speak of are fought in the pits. The calm nice pitbull are fought because they are smarter and because of there intelligence endure less punhisment. The aggresive pit is forbidden in the pit because there is usally three men in the pit and no one wants to be be around what we call a "Man biters"

Pitbull are warm blooded creatures not robots, that came from outer space to cast doom on our everyday lives.

666 it boils down to certain people but what you saw and what goes on in the Pit world is night and day in comparison.

No matter what I say about pitbulls only real Dogmen will understand my point of view.

[hailskins666]

rscity, i have seen it. the certain "someone" i'm speaking of has about 40 dogs. the guy is no joke. you can fly th BS flag all you want, but i've seen it with my own two eyes. i've seen pups from these dogs that are great, not to mention are making great pets. so no, all aren't bad, it is how they are raised. but if the dogs in this article have been raised and treated the same as the dogs i'm refering to, they are not a "misconception". they are indeed fight dogs.

First off I dont know one rich person from all my years in the game that drive premiumed priced vihecles. Please show me him or her because there are no rich Esclade driving people we know of.

maybe you just don't know the right people, but homey is doin it HARDCORE. and if you are "in the game", wouldn't that make you one of these "fools or a_*H_l_es" you spoke of earlier?

2. I am so tired of the misconception people have including yourself about the APBT. That their jaws lock that they have to be beating or that they are starved to make them aggressive. This is BS...BS BS BS BS BS BS. Man, giving a dog gun powder does nothing to the dog. It passes through thre system the same way sand would pass through their system or fiber. The pitbull hanging from the rope is something you have to teach it to do and not all pitbulls will do it.

thats the whole freakin point. the dogs i've seen HAVE been treated this way. the guy has to fit the males with a muzzle during breeding, so it won't kill the female he's trying to breed the dog with! maybe you have a misconception.

Pitbull are warm blooded creatures not robots, that came from outer space to cast doom on our everyday lives.

No matter what I say about pitbulls only real Dogmen will understand my point of view.

i do understand where you are coming from, but my point was, IF these dogs are raised like the ones i've seen, there is no hope for these animals.

[redskincity]

Hey I have owned a few 60+ myself and my freakin point is that all pitbulls because they were in a fighting enviroment makes then bad dogs.

I could feed you gun powder and you will still be my boy

The stuff with the ropes and gunpowder are gimmicks and have nothing to do with the dogs aggresiveness.

Your man or whoever is doing Drugs and is dragging dog fighting into it instead of breeding for the gamest dog.

This is what pitbull fighting is for breeding for the gamest dog.
Your friend has his hand on the trigger for destroying a breed that Ive known my whole life, not a breed that I have seen from time to time.


PS. I blame aggressive pitbulls aon the The Animal rights clones. Before the early 70s an aggressive pitbull was put down. Dog men did not tolerate any aggressiveness toward humans. Animal rights people put a halt to the mistreatment of the breed. Now people are breedin some pitbulls foe aggressiveness, size and color as opposed to temperment and gameness.

[hailskins666]

thats cool, but i wouldn't call it destroying a breed.....his dogs don't lose.
maybe the gunpowder and rope is BS, i personally don't know anything other than what i've seen. but what i've seen is 40 separate cages that you DON'T want to stick you're hand into. i've seen the gunpowder go into the food, i've seen the dogs hanging from their teeth. what all this does, i have no clue, i'm not a breeder, but i HAVE seen it up close and personal. and like i said, not all are bad. but if they are raised to be fighters, pits are some of the most evil animals on the face of the planet. i can only assume the dogs in the article are the same, if they are indeed fighters.

[General Failure]

You can rehab a dog. I've got a wonderful white sheppard that was going to be put down because it was vicious. With the number of dogs here and the breed nobody will ever get a chance. They'll all be put down.

i'm sure the shepard wasn't a "fight dog". maybe vicious, but not a true fighter.

From the moment I first saw him the dog has never been vicious at all. A little fearless and agressive, but has never done more than jump and bark at someone.

Anyway, I've heard a few things about the hanging from ropes before. The one thing I remember is a guy who would squeeze the dog's nuts while he was holding onto the rope. The guy would whistle while doing this so that anytime he whistled he would freak out.

[hailskins666]

wow, haven't heard the nuts thing before. that poor dog wouldn't know what to think during an underground fight, cuz people whistle the whole time.

[General Failure]

Oh, I'm sure it would figure it out real quick ... or die, I guess.